Frequently Asked Questions

What is Where’s my staff application?

Where’s My Staff is actually two systems in one application. The first system is an attendance recording application which works through NFC technology that’s already found in smart phones; and the second system is a location detector based on GPS technology and is used to locate the positions of employees who happen to work outside the company’s premises.

Which smart phones can run the application?

Where’s My Staff in fact supports all smart phones operating on Android 4.4 systems or later and all Apple smart phones operating on iOS 8.0 or later. It’s also noteworthy that the application automatically switches to QR technique when using smart phones that do not support the NFC technique.

What is NFC technique?

NFC stands for Near Field Communication which is a technique that enables devices (like smart phones and NFC tags) to communicate without any physical contact within close proximity. NFC technique operates within a frequency of 13.56 MHZ. Tapping the smart phone upon the paying machine is among the widely known and used purposes of NFC technique. Not to mention that this technique enables smart phones to exchange information through osculation or “Android Beam”.

NFC stands for Near Field Communication. Essentially, It operates within a radius of about 4 cm and provides a wireless connection between your device and anothe

What is QR technique?

QR technique or what so called “Quick Response Code” is a code the somewhat resembles the regular Barcode that comes in a squared shape or two dimensional shape. Any smart phone’s camera is able to detect this code and decode it as well.

What is GPS technique?

The GPS or Global Position System is a satellite-based navigation system made up of at least 24 satellites. The GPS technique is already found in all the smart phones, where its primary task is to detect the location of the phones through satellites or transmitter towers by telecommunication providers.

Before getting started

To use the application as an attendance and work control system INSIDE the company you will need:

Create an admin account for your company or organization on the official website of the application Where’s My Staff

An NFC tag to be attached inside of your company, onto which the employees must pass their phones to register the time of their attendance and that of their departure

Download the application onto the employees’ phones from Google Store or App Store so that they can convert their smart phones into unique identification cards

To use the application as an attendance and work control system OUTSIDE the company you will need:

Create an admin account for your company or organization on the official website of the application Where’s My Staff

Download the application onto the employees’ phones from Google Store or App Store so that they can convert their smart phones to unique identification and tracking cards

To use the application as an attendance and work control system OUTSIDE and INSIDE the company at the same time you will need:

Create an admin account for your company or organization on the official website of the application Where’s My Staff

An NFC tag to be attached inside of your company, onto which the employees must pass their phones to register the time of their attendance and that of their departure

Download the application onto the employees’ phones from Google play Store or App Store so that they can convert their phones to unique identification and tracking cards

How does Where’s my staff operate?

Control the attendance and working hours within the company

In this very case, Where’s My Staff works through passing each smart phone onto the NFC tag placed inside the company upon arriving and upon leaving the company. This NFC tag is regarded as the company’s unique code where the employees can only register their attendance by passing their smart phones onto this tag. As soon as the application captures the company’s unique code it will automatically save the date and the time, then sends these data to the admin’s account via Internet. Yet, if the employee’s mobile phone is not connected to the Internet, the data will be safely saved -thanks to cloud storage, we can work anywhere and anytime- until it is connected to the Internet later on and then it sends them to the admin’s account. The same process takes place if the smart phones used don’t support NFC technique, however instead of passing the mobile phones onto the tag you simply orient the phone’s camera to the QR code found on the tag.

Control the attendance and working hours outside the company

Where’s My Staff works in this case through the GPS technique where each employee swipes the “check-in” button in the application upon their arrival and then on “check-out” when they leave their location.

Where can I get NFC tag?

You can purchase the NFC tag from the application’s official website buy NFC or from any specialized store, it must be noted that tag’s characteristics are as follow:

The exterior specifications of the NFC tag are:

It is made up of PVC material to insulates the chips from external factors

The back side of the tag is actually an adhesive material made by 3M Company. It has a very high tolerant capacity and defies the external factors

The front side of the tag is designed in such a modern and elegant way that makes it suitable to be placed anywhere and has a QR code

It comes in different sizes:

Rectangular 8.5cm X 5.4cm

Rectangular 4.25cm X 2.7cm

Circular of diameter 2.5cm

The thickness of the chip is approximately 1mm.

The technical specifications of the NFC tag are:

Mifare Ultralight

13.56 MHZ contactless smart card

ISO/IEC 14443 Type A

What is the price of Where’s My Staff?

Where’s My Staff has 2 versions. The Normal version and the Real-Time version where each version has its own set of plans.

1. The Normal version includes 3 plans depending on the number of employees you need. Available plans for the Normal version are:
-Lite: for 10 employees, $49.99/year
-Plus: for 50 employees, $99.99/year
-Enterprise: for 100 employees. $149.99/year

2. Real-Time version includes 4 plans depending on the number of employees you need. Available plans for Real-Time version are:

– Lite+: for up to 10 employees, 149.99$/year
– Standard+: for up to 30 employees, 299.99$/year
– Plus+: for up to 50 employees, 449.99$/year
– Enterprise+: for up to 100 employees, 749.99$/year

Can the account admin track users at anytime?

No, this application works only upon the users’ consent. So, no tracking can be done without the user’s approval.

What kind of smart phones support the application?

This application is supported by all sorts of smart phones that operate on Android 4.4 or later systems. As for Apple users, the application supports iOS 8.0 or later.

How can I know whether or not my smart phone supports NFC technique?

In order to know whether or not your smart phone supports NFC technique, you may visit the link below.

Where can I find NFC tag?

You can order the tag from the company’s website or you can buy it from any store that offers communication tools. The tag’s price ranges between $0.5 and $10 according to its material.

How accurate is the location detector by Where’s My Staff?

The accuracy of the application ranges between 96% and 99.9%, especially that we use Apple and Google locators in our application.

Create an admin’s account for your organization or company

The admin’s account is set to be the primary account through which you can add, trace or follow up, save and edit all sorts of information you gathered about the employees. You might as well request different kinds of reports and monitor the attendance and track in real time the working hours of the employees. In order to create the admin’s account you should:

Go to the following link Register or click on Free Trial found in the home page of the application’s website.After selecting your most appropriate version (normal or real-time) you should fill in the following information. All fields are required.

Field’s Name

Description

Company’s Name

The name of your company or organization. This name will appear in all reports and you could adjust it later on in Profile.

Company’s Domain

The type of activities that your company carries on. You can choose from the list.

Username

The name of the user used to log into the admin’s account. It may contain letters and numbers and it doesn’t matter if they are capital or small letters

E-mail

The electronic mail to which you will be sent a verification code in order to activate the account

Password

Choose a password for the admin’s account. It may consist of letters, numbers and characters. In case you forgot your password, you may click on “Forgot password?” in the home page where you entered your E-mail so that you’d be sent a code to reset your password. You may, at anytime, change your password in Profile.

Password again

Password again Enter the password again for confirmation

After successfully entering all information click on “Register” and you will be sent an activation code to the E-mail address you previously entered. In case you didn’t get the mail kindly check your Junk Mail.

Define the main information about your company or organization

click on the top left in the home page, a list of options will appear, afterwards click on Profile. Here, you may edit any information related to the company or organization.

Set Company Location: locate and pinpoint the position of the company or the organization on the map. The purpose of locating the position is to prevent manipulations such as registering a delusive attendance outside the company. To know more about how “where’s my staff” operatesSet Company Location

Company Name: the name of your company or organization. This name will appear in all of the reports.

Email: the electronic mail through which you will get a code in case you forgot the password, and you will be able to communicate with the support department.

Phone: the preferred phone number to communicate on.

Fax: fax number to communicate (optional).

Tag: the NFC tag code and your company’s QR. In case of purchasing NFC tag from the application’s website, you will be able to find the tag’s code on the bottom of the letter attached along with it. However, in case of already having an NFC tag from other source, you will be able to find its code by following these steps.Watch Video

Image: insert the logo of your company or organization. In case of not inserting any image, the system will automatically insert a logo of the initials of your company or organization’s name. This logo will appear in all of the reports and on the top of the home page of the admin’s account. You may also, change the background colors of the application on the employees’ phones according to the logo’s color. To know more about changing the application’s color click here. The Standard size of the logo: JPEG, 400*400 pixels, Max size 2 Mb.

Change Pass: to change the password.

Define the information of each individual you wish to monitor his/her attendance or working hours

Click on on the top left of the home page, a list of options will appear, then click on Employees. You may add or edit or even deactivate the employees’ accounts, and issue activation codes for each and every employee. Watch video

This page is divided into two sections:

A. New employee registration

First Name: the employee’s first name. This name will appear on the application upon activating it, as well as in all sorts of reports of the admin’s account.

Last Name: This name will appear on the application upon activating it, as well as in all sorts of reports of the admin’s account.

Phone: the employee’s phone number (optional).

GEO: it is an ON/OFF option. In case the employee works outside the company, this feature should be turned ON. Upon enabling this feature, the employee will be able to register his/her attendance from anywhere outside the company. The application then will save the location from which the employee checked-in as well as the time of arrival and departure.

NFC: it is an ON/OFF option. In case the employee works inside the company, this feature should be turned ON. Upon turning it ON, the employee will be able to register the attendance by passing his/her smart phone over the NFC tag attached at the company. The system will automatically register the time of arrival and departure. To know more about how “where’s my staff” operates

Notes
It is noteworthy that if the employee works both outside and inside the company, and the employer wants to track him/her in both cases, the GEO and NFC features must be turned on at the same time. To know more about how “where’s my staff” operates click here

Image: Insert the employee’s image. In case, the image is not inserted, the system will automatically use the image of the initials of the employee’s name. This image will be displayed in all of the reports and will help you maintain a better visual interaction with the system.

B.Employees registered formerly:

You will be able to activate the application on the employees’ phones by entering the activation code or just clicking on it. Subsequently, the code will appear as a QR photo. The employee have to click on the found at the end of the column, then you must scan QR to activate the application.

To edit any information about any employee: click on his/her image, and a list of full information (previously registered in category A) will appear before you, and then you may edit any information and click save.

To remove employees: click on found at the end of the employees’ list.

Activate the application on the employees’ phones each through a unique code of their own

click on on the top left of the home page, then a list of options will appear in front of you, click on Employees, then at the bottom of the page you will find a list of the employees you’ve previously registered along with their unique codes next to their names. You may activate the application on all the employees’ phones using one of the following methods:

Manually: through entering the activation code manually

Through QR: where you may click on the activation code found next to the employees’ names, then a code will appear in a form of a QR image with which the employee can click on found at the bottom of the column, and then scan it in order to activate the application.

Attach the NFC tag inside the company

In case you wish to use this application to control the attendance and the working hours of the employees inside the company. However, in case of external employees, then this step is unnecessary.

NFC TAG

NFC tag is an electronic micro chip of size 4cm and of thickness 1mm. This tag doesn’t need any source of energy as it is a passive tag and has its own unique code. Most smart phones operating on Androids interact with this tag just by passing it upon the tag from about 3cm away.

What are the characteristics of the NFC tag by Where’s my staff?

The exterior specifications of the NFC tag are:

It is made up of PVC material to insulates the chips from external factors

The back side of the tag is actually an adhesive material made by 3M Company. It has a very high tolerant capacity and defies the external factors

The front side of the tag is designed in such a modern and elegant way that makes it suitable to be placed anywhere and has a QR code

It comes in different sizes:

Rectangular 8.5cm X 5.4cm

Rectangular 4.25cm X 2.7cm

Circular of diameter 2.5cm

The thickness of the chip is approximately 1mm.

The technical specifications of the NFC tag are:

Mifare Ultralight

13.56 MHZ contactless smart card

ISO/IEC 14443 Ty

In case you purchase the tag from anywhere else you should:

Check whether or not the tag is fully covered with an isolating material to avoid damage with time (PVC material)

Check whether or not it operates on the frequency 13.56 MHZ

Print the UID of the tag as a QR code and attach it onto the tag (for more info about UID and QR kindly review the next paragraph).

How to know the UID of the tag?

You will further use the UID of the tag as a unique code for your company or organization.
In case you’ve purchased the NFC tag from the website of Where’s My Staff, you will find attached the UID of the code in the bottom of the letter. However, if you have purchased the tag from elsewhere, you will be able to know the code by following those steps:

Download the NFC TagInfo on any Android that supports the NFC technique

Enable the NFC feature on the Android

Activate the NFC TagInfo application

Pass the NFC tag on the back of the Android and click on Tag information

The NFC code will appear to you in the application under the name of NUID or UID

Printing the QR code

Some smart phones do not support the NFC feature, so QR is the substitute. For more info about QR kindly review General Definition-What is QR technique?
We will print the UID of the NFC tag as a form of QR code and paste it on the NFC tag as shown below

Note: the QR code is rather sensitive, so we do recommend that you cover it with a transparent tape to avoid damaging it.

Things you should know before using the application with QR technique

The application will automatically open your smart phone’s camera as soon as you swipe “check-in” on the application in order to capture the photo of the QR code and analyze it

The application will detect the location of the mobile when swiping “check-in” and that’s to ensure that the user has truly captured the QR code from inside the company. We don’t find this applicable when using the application with the NFC technique since it is impossible to find 2 tags having the same code; it is very possible to have same QR codes however. So, to avoid manipulating the system, the application will confirm the presence of the employee in the company as well as the QR code.

Where do I place the NFC tag?

In general, the NFC tag should be attached inside the company, and the best place to do that is at the closest point to the company’s entrance gates, you might as well want to consider the following:

Never place the tag near an electrical source of power or near an electrical plug or even an electric wire of a high frequency

Never place the tag near a magnetic field

Never place the tag onto a chassis

Admin Account

The admin’s account is the main account through which you can add, trace, save and edit information about employees’ work and attendance. You can also, demand several kinds of reports and monitor in real time the attendance and track work hours of the employees.*

*all users of the application must be connected to the Internet

The home page

It is the page that displays the information of attendance and working places of the employees on the map.All information that appears on the home page is the occurrences of the present day.

This page is divided into 3 sections:1. The Map
The map displays the employees’ location outside the company, along with the time of arrival and departure. The users will appear on the map with their photos or their initials in case they didn’t submit their photo. The background will be colored in green or red according to the following manner:

The green shows the employees who checked in and didn’t leave yet

The red shows those employees who checked in and out

When putting the cursor on the employee’s photo, different information will appear to you on the right side of the screen, like his/her name and the time of arrival and departure

2. The working list

The working list displays all those employees working who only checked in above and checked in and out down below. This list is divided into two categories.

Displays all outside working employees or those who work outside the company and are tracked using GPSDisplays all inside working employees or those who control their attendance using NFC or QR

3. Tools bar
It contains the organization or company’s logo along with its name and four different toolsRedirects you to the page of properties, information about the company and the options screenRedirects you to your favorite map location you have previously savedto save your favorite location on the map to hide or show the working list

Profile

Here you may adjust or edit any information related to the company or organization.

Field’s Name

Description

Set Company Location

Locate the company or organization’s position on the map. The purpose of locating the position is to help the application avoid manipulating the attendance registration or even a delusive attendance registration from outside the company

Company Name

The name of your company or organization. This name will appear in all of the reports

Email

The electronic mail through which you will able to communicate with the support department, and through which you’ll get a code in case you forgot your password

Phone

A phone number to communicate

Fax

A fax number to communicate (optional)

Tag

The company or organization’s NFC Tag and QR code. In case you have purchased the NFC tag from the application’s website, you will find attached the code of tag at the bottom of the letter. If you have got the NFC tag from somewhere else, you will be able to know the code by following the steps in the guide. Review NFC tag- How to know UID of the tag

Image

The logo of the company or organization. In case you don’t choose one, the system will automatically display the initials of your company’s name. This image will appear in all of the reports and at the top of the home page in the admin’s account. You can also change the colors of the application for the employees as the logo’s color .for more info about changing the colors of the application review guide – Application Employees- Settings-Colors- Restore. The image should be according to the following specifications: 400*400 pixels, JPEG, Max size 2MB

Change Pass

If you wish to change the password

Reports

The admin’s account contains 14 different kinds of reports, all of which can be transformed into Excel format. Some of which are:

My Employees Report
This report provides you with names, phone numbers, dates and the time you added a new user which will appear according to the chronological order. However, you are allowed to organize the report according to your own personal preferences. All you have to do is click on the title of the column to change the organization form. For instance, if you wish to organize the data according to the alphabetical order, click on the First Name at the top of the column and the report will be displayed according to the alphabetical order from the first to the last or even vice versa.
In case you want to issue the report in Excel format, click on the logo at the top right of the report.

Working Hours Report
This report displays the working hours during a certain period of time.
You will be able to choose from the employees’ list to display reports of all the users or one user at a time and select the period of time.
You may be able to display the organization of a report according to your preferences (according to the most working hours, least working hours or even according to the alphabetical order). All you have to do is click on the title of the column you wish to arrange the report according to.
In case you want to issue the report in Excel format, click on the logo at the top right of the report.

Employee History Report: It is actually 2 reports including the same information but one represents the information in a table and the other on a map.The report in the form of a table:
This report displays the hours of arrival and departure of each user and calculates the time between the both..
You can select from the employees’ list to display the report of all the users at once or each user at a time or even of a group of employees who work outside the company and track them through the GPS or those who work inside the company and track them through NFC or you may select both options as well as the period of time.
You may be able to display the organization of a report according to your preferences (according to the most working hours, least working hours or even according to the alphabetical order).
All you have to do is click on the title of the column you wish to arrange the report according to. In case you want to issue the report in Excel format, click on the logo at the top right of the report.The reports in the form of a map:
In case you select the group of employees who work outside the company who are tracked through the GPS, the term “Map” will appear on the top right of the screen where you can click on, to pin point the sites the users have checked in on the map as it shows below:

Daily history Report: It is the same as the employee History Report but it differs by exhibiting the daily action of all the users.

Daily history Report: It is a report especially for those employees who work outside the company and are tracked through the GPS. This kind of report displays the time of users who checked in at a certain location and checked out from a different one.
You may display the report according to the margin of distant from the location that the user first checked in and that’s by entering the kilometers in the Max Margin at the top of the report page. You may also display the report of a user or all users between two dates you specify.
You may be able to display the organization of a report according to your preferences (according to the most working hours, least working hours or even according to the alphabetical order).
All you have to do is click on the title of the column you wish to arrange the report according to. In case you want to issue the report in Excel format, click on the logo at the top right of the report.

Location History Report: This is report for the employees who work outside the company and are tracked through the GPS, where it permits you to display the users who visited a location you select on the map during a certain period of time.
All you have to do is specify the date and click on the map to select the location.
To select the location:
Click on the map to select the first angle of the location you want and then repeat the process to select the 3 other angles. You can zoom in and out by clicking on one of the angles and swift back and forth.
You may re-locate the location by clicking on “Reset”.
Click on the Report and a list of the employees who visited the area will appear at the bottom of the map including the location you specified as well as the time.

Adjust

You can edit or cancel any check-ins and check-outs.
All you have to do is select the employee’s name and select the day you wish to edit in “Criteria”, the system will automatically display the day you selected in “Log”. You may edit the day or the time of the check-in or out, and then save the changes by clicking on At the end of the line.
In case you wish to cancel the check-in and check-out of an employee, you have to select the day and the employee from “Criteria” and then click on At the end of the line.

Employee application

The employees’ application is available to download on Google Play Store and App Store, through this application, employees can register their attendance. This application was designed in a user-friendly interface to ensure the ease of use for all the users. It also doesn’t require the permanent Internet access. Not to mention that this application doesn’t include any ads banners.

Why permissions?

Just like the rest of the applications, “Where’s My Staff” requires some permissions from the employee’s phone in order for it to work properly. In the following, is a list of the permissions the application requires and the reason for requiring each:

Permissions

The reason

ID
Searching for accounts on the device

In order to activate the employee’s account

Location
The precise location (related to the GPS)

In order to locate the position of the employee when turning GEO and QR features ON.

Note: detecting the employee’s location can be done only upon their consent when they click on Check in. Consequently, the admin cannot track the employees without their consent.

Camera
To capture photos and videos

When using the application through QR, the application requires accessing the camera in order to capture the QR image. This image will not be saved whatsoever but will be analyzed to decode the QR code.

Receive Internet Data

In order to activate the application and edit any data entered by the admin on the employee’s account.

The full access of the network

In order to send the data saved on the application the admin’s account.

Display the connections of the network

In order to ensure whether or not there is a connection with the network and based on this you’ll be able to edit some of the properties.

Control Near Field Communication

In order to interact with the NFC tag attached in the location.

Never put the device on silent mode

In order to alarm the employees and remind them to check out when leaving their work.

To use accounts on the device

It is one of the most important permissions, in order to allow the application to use google maps to track the locations as well as access google’s services.

Privacy

Privacy is of crucial importance so we took that into consideration when designing this application, whether the information was related to the company or the admins’ accounts or even the employees and users. So, we assure and guarantee all users of “Where’s My Staff” that their information are confidential and coded on private servers and no party, whether it’s the producing company or any judicial, civil, security, can access the data unless it has the direct permission of the account’s owner.
The employees and users of the application can rest assured that their information will be fully safe and no one has the rights to access it unless the user clicks on Check-in. The application will alarm the user that he/she are being tracked throughout the usage of the application when clicking on check in.
The producing company has collaborated with a company named Iubenda specialized in formulating and establishing privacy policies on the Internet to revise the applications’ permissions and that of the website of the application and establish a privacy policy to the application.
For more info about “Where’s My Staff “Privacy Policy please click here

Access the Application without connecting to the Internet

You may use the application offline, where the application saves the information and data on the employee’s device until it’s connected to the Internet. As soon as there’s an Internet connection the information and data is automatically transferred to the admin’s account.
It must be noted though, that the information will not be displayed on the admin’s account unless the employees’ devices are connected to the Internet.
Not to mention that while being offline, locating the position is usually less accurate than when it is actually connected to the Internet.

When using the application for the very first time, (i.e.; when activating the application) the smart phone must be connected to the Internet.

Activating the Application

After downloading the application from App store or Google Play store, the following screen will appear when you open the application
Then the admin must log into his account and click on at the top left of the screen and click on Employees. Upon clicking on Employees, a list of names of all the users previously identified will appear.
Next to the name of each employee, you will find a code that starts with the name of your company or organization
Request your employees to enter the code in the “key”
In case you have a very large number of employees and you wish to finish the activation process faster, you can surely click on the code next to each employee’s name which when clicking upon, a photo of a QR image will emerge before you.
Request your employees to click on found at the end of “Key” cell.
The camera will automatically be accessed in order to capture a photo of the QR code and then the application will be automatically activated.

Overview on “Where’s My Staff” employees app

We have designed this application to be user friendly, so all the user can visualize is this one screen including the settings of the application at the top right of the screen. This screen displays a greeting phrase and the name of the user “Welcome John Smith” as well as the “check-in” button in the middle of the screen and an exist button on the bottom right of the screen . • Check-in button
It works by swiping right with your finger and not by clicking on it
After successfully checking in, the “check-in” button will turn to “check-out” button as you may see in the image below:
As long as you have “check-in” mode on the application, there will be a sign at the top of the screen of the phone to remind the employees that they need to check out as soon as the finish their work.
To finalize the operation of check-out or to register out of work, the users have to swipe to the left with their fingers as shown below:

Settings

To access the application’s settings, click on found at the top right of the secreen. • Restore Colors
The application switches colors according to the organization or company’s logo color put in the profile of the admin’s account. Users can change the color of the application to the original one by clicking on Restore Colors. • Send Log
If any error or flaw occurs in the application, the user may click on “send log” to send the essential information to the support department of the application and the issue will be addressed in a matter of 12 hours maximum. In certain cases, when asking for a technical help from the support department, you will be asked by the latter to send the information through Send Log in order to diagnose the problem and fix it.

Note: send log doesn’t contain any private information like the phone number or the location.